Stuck In The Shadows
by Shadowpaw of WillowClan
Summary: "There will be one who gets stuck in the shadows trying to get to the light." When little Shadowkit becomes Shadowpaw, he discovers that things aren't always easy, but he must not give up.
1. WillowClan

**This is my first fanfic, so please excuse any mistakes or serious name failures. I do not have a good imagination at stupid o'clock in the morning. It won't be beta'd, but whatever, I do it myself.**

**Disclaimer: I do not have the pleasure of owning Warriors, but I do own these characters and their personalities. If there's any cat with the same name as a cat in the books, sorry.**

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**Leader:**

Rainstar - light gray she-cat with white paws.

**Deputy:**

Russetpelt - dark ginger tom.

Apprentice, Shadowpaw

**Medicine Cat:**

Yewleaf - brown and ginger she-cat.

**Warriors (toms, and she-cats without kits):**

Olivetail – blue-gray tom with a bushy tail.

Apprentice, Snowpaw

Goldenstripe - golden tabby she-cat.

Apprentice, Ivypaw

Mudpelt - brown tom.

Apprentice, Dustpaw

Snowstreak - big white tom.

Owlfeather – creamy-white she-cat.

Dawnwind - pale ginger she-cat.

Frozentail - dark grey tom with a white tail.

**Apprentices (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors):**

Shadowpaw - jet-black tom.

Cloudpaw - white she-cat.

Ivypaw - small tortoiseshell she-cat.

Dustpaw - brown tabby tom.

**Queens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits):**

Honeygaze - ginger tabby with unusual golden eyes.

Whitefoot - brown coat and white paws.

Kits, Poppykit, Sandkit.

Blueflower - blue-gray coat.

Kits, Streamkit, Featherkit, Mousekit.

**Elders (former warriors and queens, now retired):**

Threefoot - black and white tom with only three working legs.

Rockpelt - grey tom.

Skycloud - light grey and white she-cat.

Blossomfur - golden tabby she-cat.


	2. Chapter 1

**This could be a little longer, but I was developing a writer's block -points at the last few paragraphs-**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors. I _do _own the characters in this story, though. Especially little Shadowpaw -huggles-

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Chapter 1: The Apprentice Ceremony

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Willow Tree for a Clan meeting!"

There was a fluttering feeling in my belly as I waited behind the trunk of the Willow Tree. This was it! I was finally going to be an apprentice! I was so excited I could barely feel my paws; it felt as if I was floating. I peered around the thick trunk of the giant tree.

Most of the Clan was sitting patiently in the green light under the magnificent drooping branches and leaves of the Willow Tree. Some latecomers were just pushing through the thin vines that hung from the branches of the tree. _The inside of the many vines and leaves would be a great hiding place, _I thought; the inside was impossible to see from the outside.

I looked up and spotted Rainstar, perched on a sturdy-looking branch that was very high off the ground. I looked down to prevent my head from spinning.

"This moonhigh," she meowed, "we gather together to name a new apprentice. Come forward."

I took a deep breath. I could hear my heart pounding frantically in my chest as I let the air out of my lungs and padded around the trunk of the tree. My paws made no sound on the ground as I inched closer. It felt like the world was going in slow motion. Or was it me? What took seconds felt as though it took moons.

I stood in front of the tree and the Clan cats. Half of them I'd never seen before. They were all staring at me. Glancing left and right out of the corners of my eyes, I spotted my mother sitting at the edge of the crowd. She smiled reassuringly at me and I found that I could feel my paws again. Resisting the urge to flee from the stares, I turned around and sat down heavily, facing the tree.

Rainstar jumped gracefully from branch to branch, but I kept my head down until I knew that she was low enough for me to look up at her without feeling dizzy. Her bright blue eyes met mine.

"Shadowkit," Rainstar meowed, "from this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Shadowpaw."

A jolt of happiness went through me as I heard my new name for the first time. I puffed out my chest and tried to look impressive.

"Russetpelt, you are ready for another apprentice. You will begin Shadowpaw's training."

I was shocked. My mentor was to be Russetpelt, the WillowClan deputy? Russetpelt stepped away from the crowd of cats and stared up at his leader.

"You have trained your other apprentices well. I expect you to teach this young apprentice everything you taught them and share with him all you know," Rainstar mewed.

"Yes, Rainstar."

Russetpelt strode over to me and bent his head; I stretched my head upwards to touch his nose with my own.

I could hear my mother cheering my new name along with everyone else. Beaming, I lifted my head to grin at my new mentor, but he wasn't there. I looked around wildly, praying to StarClan I hadn't dreamed the whole thing, and saw a dark red tail disappearing through the leaves and into the camp.

I was so tired that when the ceremony was over, I didn't even bother choosing something from the fresh-kill pile. I was halfway to the nursery when I remembered: I couldn't sleep in there. I wasn't a kit anymore. I was an apprentice now.

With a sigh, I turned away from the nursery and looked around for the apprentices' den; I'd never actually been allowed to explore the camp as a kit. With a pang, I realized just how much I'd been missing out on. There were cats everywhere, the names of most I didn't know, licking each other's fur. This must be what Mother called 'sharing tongues'.

I spotted a young she-cat who seemed to be smaller than the other cats, but not small enough to be a kit. _She has to be an apprentice,_ I thought. She was carrying a large bird in her mouth. It looked like she was taking it to the slightly frail-looking cats in what was obviously a den made of thick bushes and twigs.

I blended into the dark shadows around the edge of the camp and watched her. She couldn't see me, or she'd think I was following her, which, honestly, I was. Unfortunately, just then a large brown tom walked past, blocking my view. I made myself lie as flat as possible and waited for the moment of embarrassment when he caught me lurking in the shadows, but it didn't come.

I frantically searched for a sign of the white apprentice. Luck was on my side; I saw her walking towards what appeared to be a large rock. I squinted and, sure enough, there was an opening in the side of the rock. Yawning, the apprentice stopped outside the entrance, looked left and right, then slipped inside and was gone.

At least I'd found the apprentice den. Well, with a little unknown help from the white she-cat. I bounded out of the shadows and may have surprised a few cats accidentally. I skidded to a stop, shook some of the dust from my fur and took a tentative step forwards.

"Look out!" some cat screeched from behind me. Before I had time to spin around, something warm crashed into me, knocking me and whatever it was flying into the apprentices' den. I tumbled and rolled until I hit the opposite wall with a solid thud and a yelp and I was left lying on my belly, leaning against the cold wall. Blinking dust and moss out of my eyes, I lifted my head and shook it a bit to get the buzzing out of my ears.

There was an angry hiss and I felt teeth on the scruff of my neck. Acting instinctively, I jumped to my feet and arched my back, but I kept my claws sheathed. Just because I didn't want to get hurt didn't mean I had to hurt someone.

Opening my eyes properly for the first time, I gazed around me. I was in a circular den carved in the rock, there was plenty of moss on the floor and three pairs of eyes were staring back at me out of the darkness.

I flattened myself to the ground as I had done earlier, hoping they wouldn't hurt me if I didn't look like a threat. Not that I did, anyway, because they were much bigger than me.

My night sight was setting in, and I could see who was in the den with me. An older tabby tom, a friendly-looking tortoiseshell she-cat and the white she-cat whom he'd followed into the den.

"I-I'm sorry," I stuttered.

"No, I'm sorry!" mewed the tortoiseshell she-cat. "It's my fault; I wasn't looking where I was going! I'm really clumsy, you know." She smiled at me. _This could have gone worse,_ I thought. I was just relaxing when I felt teeth on my neck again.

"Hey!" I screamed as I was picked off the ground as if I weighed nothing. That big brown tabby had my neck between his jaws. I thrashed and squirmed, scratched and clawed, but he just bit down harder. I gave up. The brown tabby was getting ready to throw me in the air. He swung me back and forth until I felt his grip loosening... he was getting ready to let go... any moment now...

I pushed hard against his jaw with my back legs and landed on the grass just outside the den. Not wanting to stay outside and get caught or stay inside and get bullied, I ran. I don't know where I was running, but I ended up pushing my way through the slightly heavy vines hanging from the Willow Tree.

Panting, I stumbled over to the side of the trunk, where, exhausted, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


End file.
